1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to a cable holder that is capable of supporting several cable connectors such as Ethernet connectors and telephone connectors and their associated cables.
2. Description of Related Art
It is well known how difficult it is for a technician to connect a large number of cable connectors and their associated cables into a single connector. The main problem facing the technician involves the tedious and time-consuming task of individually terminating a relatively large number of cable connectors into a relatively small connector. For example, technicians today must individually terminate sixteen RJ45 cable connectors and their associated Ethernet cables into a RJ45 connector that has two rows of eight closely-spaced jacks. Due to the small size of the connector, the technician has to be very patients when terminating the cable connectors and also has to be careful not to plug the cable connectors in the wrong order into the connector.
Another problem facing the technician today involves the tedious task of remembering where the cable connectors that have been removed from the connector need to be re-inserted into the connector since the removed cable connectors and their associated cables can be easily mixed up and tangled with one another. To date, there does not appear to be a simple and economically feasible solution to the aforementioned problems where a technician must individually insert and individually remove a large number of cable connectors into and from a small connector. As such, there has been a persistent need for a cable holder that can effectively hold a large number of cable connectors and cables so that all of the cable connectors can be inserted into and/or removed from a connector at the same time. This need and other needs are satisfied by the cable holder and methods of the present invention.
The present invention includes a cable holder, a method for assembling the cable holder and a method for using the cable holder. Basically, the cable holder includes a connector holder that is configured to receive several cable connectors each of which are attached to a cable. The cable holder also includes one or more latch bars that are connected to the connector holder and configured to enable a user to interact with each latch bar so as to depress a tab on each of the cable connectors which enables the user to insert at the same time all of the cable connectors into a connector. Thereafter, the user can interact with each latch bar so as to depress a tab on each of the cable connectors which enables the user to remove at the same time all of the cable connectors from the connector. In addition, the cable holder can include a cover that is configured to maintain a position of the cable connectors within the connector and is also configured to receive the cables that are attached to the cable connectors.